Equipment for manufacturing bakery products

ABSTRACT

Grippers for picking up and depositing kneaded dough pieces comprise claws movable together and apart and operable by bell crank levers. The levers of the claws of a gripper are actuated by a claw rod, with a plurality of claw rods being actuated simultaneously by a common actuating plate.

lJnited States Patent Schroder [451*Ma1r. 2, 1972 [54] EQUIPMENT FOR MANUFACTURING [56] References Cited BAKERY PRODUCTS UNITED STATES PATENTS [72] Inventor: Herbert Schroder, Angerstrasse, Stafiel- 2,858,775 11/1958 Marasso ..107/15 AD stein Ofr, Germany 1,115,426 10/1914 Green ..294/87 X h f 2,524,880 10/1950 Cattonar et a1. ...294/87.22 X Notice. The portion 0 the term of this patent sub- 2,707'572 5/1955 Rothman I I "294/87 Ux sequent June 10, 1986, has been 2,71s,7s7 8/1955 Williams 294/88 x clalmed- I 2,903,290 9/1959 Morris et al... .....214/1 as 2 F M 4 1969 2,924,484 2/1960 Tolsma 294/87 3,179,137 4/1965 Kilner ..294/106 X [21] App]. No.: 804,084 3,448,865 6/1969 Schroder ..294/87 X Related U.S. Application Data FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 609,628, Jan. 16, 618,901 4/1961 Canada ..294/88 1967, Pat. No. 3,448,865.

Primary Examiner-Evon C. Blunk [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Assistant Examiner-W. Scott Carson Attorney-Holman & Stern May 14, 1966 Germany ..P 15 32 348.5

[57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl. ..294/87 R, 294/106, 294/1 17 [51] Int CL WBZSJ 3/00 Bzsj 15/00, 366,: Grippers for picking up and depositing kneaded dough pieces 58 Field of Search ..294/87 87 A, 87.2 87.22, claws mmble mgeih" and apart and Parable by bell crank levers. The levers of the claws of a gripper are actu- V ated by a claw rod, with a plurality of claw rods being actuated simultaneously by a common actuating plate.

4 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures FED- 4: L I I m 26 6 1 76 c: FQIT 1 1 .1 59 63 PATENTEnmza I97? 3.6521 17 SHEET 10F 8 Elsi U Q Q (I) C) C U 0 O 59 1.6 A A. .A. ,A.

U U U Q U 62 3 U U U U PATENTEDMAR28 m2 SHEET 2 [IF 8 5 Wm W W m 4 m b m PAIENIEUMARZiB m2 3,652,117

' sum 3 [1F 8 HERBE RT RODER Pmmmm I972 3,652,117

SHEET 8 OF 8 ERBERT RODER 37%, 2% :14

EQUIPMENT FOR MANUFACTURING BAKERY PRODUCTS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is a Continuation-in-part of application, Ser. No. 609,628 filed Jan. 16, 1967 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,865 issued June 10, 1969.

This invention relates to a device for taking hold of and depositing worked pieces of dough in batches, comprising gripping devices arranged around a central point.

Breakfast or Vienna rolls consist of worked pieces of dough, also known as molded articles. The dough pieces rest on a working plate, after they have been made or shaped, i.e., worked from a large lump of dough by means of a machine. The dough pieces are situated on the working plate in working formation, namely relatively close to one another and in a certain circular arrangement, for example in three concentric circles. The worked dough pieces swell, i.e., expand. In order that the dough pieces arranged relatively closely to one another on the working plate do not touch one another as they expand, the dough pieces must be spaced apart so that they have a greater distance from one another after the spacing. The expanded dough pieces are baked on a baking tray in an oven. On the baking tray the dough pieces are not only wider spaced than on the working plate but are also in a different formation. This other arrangement, called here the baking arrangement, is, for example, rectangular and in parallel rows. The worked pieces must therefore be spaced, rearranged and transferred from the working plate to the the baking tray, which may also be a depositing plate for storing the dough pieces.

After the spacing or transfer, the dough pieces must rest on the baking tray with the same'part of their surface with which they rest on the working plate and which is called the base. During spacing the sensitive outer skin of the dough pieces must not be damaged, for example crushed or split.

In a known device of the said type known from German patent public inspection documents 1,076,053, the holding devices are arranged immovably with respect to one another and in such a way that their position corresponds to the working formation of the dough pieces. The holding devices of this arrangement are suction members which suck up the dough pieces and retain them by suction. Although the suction members of this known device transfer the dough pieces in one batch from the working plate to the baking tray, the pieces have on the baking tray the same relative arrangement as on the working plate. This is a disadvantage because the dough pieces have finally to be distributed on the baking tray by hand. The invention has as its object to effect the work of distributing, i.e., spacing and rearranging, mechanically.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the present device, each holding device is connected to its own guide means and is movable over a given distance from the center point and back by means of control means. The holding devices take hold of the dough pieces, then they move apart and finally deposit the dough pieces.

In the device, the holding devices can move to and fro between two positions, called the working and baking positions. The working position of the holding devices corresponds to the working formation ofthe dough pieces and the baking position corresponds to the baking formation of the dough pieces.

If the dough pieces are gripped when in two or more concentric circles and are deposited in rows in one or more rectangles, one, two or more dough pieces must be moved from an inner circle to an outer rectangle, in order that all the dough pieces deposited in rectangles have approximately equal distance from one another. Because the holding devices would get in each others way if they were all to move simultaneously, the procedure according to the invention is that first the holding devices of the outer circle are moved simultaneously from the center point, then at least one holding device of the inner circle is moved away from the center point by a relatively great amount as far as those of the outer circle, and finally the rest of the inner circle are moved away from the center point by a relatively small amount. In order that in the present device two holding devices do not hinder one another in their movements, two holding devices are movable with the beginning and end of their movements relatively staggered in time.

The movement of a holding device is brought about, for example by mechanical, pneumatic or hydraulic means. It is expedient if the holding device is moved by means of a control rod displaceable to and fro in the direction of its longitudinal axis, because this mechanical operation is less susceptible to breakdown. If each holding device is connected with a guide lever capable of swinging about a bearing point and if a control stop arranged on the guide lever is moved by means of the control rod, the device has a mechanical system for moving the holding devices which is similar to the mechanics of an umbrella. The ends of the ribs of the umbrella are comparable with the holding devices, the umbrella ring displaceable on the stick with the control rod, and the stretchers between ring and ribs with the control stop between holding device and control rod. The movement of the holding devices on actuation of the control rod is also comparable with the movement of the ends of the ribs on actuation of the ring.

Furthermore, it'is advantageous if the holding devices are moved parallel to themselves, because the dough pieces are then gripped and deposited in the same position, i.e., with their base downwards. For the purpose of parallel displaceability, each holding device in the embodiment of the arrangement described above is'pivotally connected with its guide lever. Furthermore, the arrangement is such that one guide means has two parallel guide levers supporting the holding device and articulated to an upper parallelogram link and the latter is detachably fixed to a support plate. Each holding device can therefore be detached from the support plate in a simple manner.

In the arrangement known from German patent public inspection documents 1,076,153 the suction bores of all the suction members open into an air-tight casing, which is connected by way of a pipe to a pressure generator for negative and excess pressure. Ifa single piece of dough does not close the suction bore of its suction device tightly, then the pressure generator only sucks up at this suction device and is ineffective on the remaining suction members. There is therefore the danger that in the event ofa sucked up dough piece becoming detached, the others will likewise become detached. The corresponding difficulty exists on depositing, because dough pieces remaining stuck to their suction device can no longer be detached by excess pressure, because the excess pressure has escaped through suction devices whose dough pieces have already been ejected. The invention also has as its object to avoid these disadvantages.

To this end each holding device has a suction device and each suction device is connected to its own pressure generator for negative and excess pressure. Then each suction device works independently from the others. A simple way of providing a separate pressure generator for each suction device and of actuating several pressure generators jointly exists if the pressure generators are bellow-like hollow members, which are arranged between a stationary pressure plate and a pressure plate parallel with the stationary pressure plate and movable perpendicularly thereto. In order to avoid that too great a suction force acts at one point on a dough piece gripped by a suction device, it is advisable if the suction devices have in each case a semi-spherical cup with a suction bore and in each semi-spherical cup a cup-shaped screen is provided. The suction force of the pressure generator is then distributed over the plurality of screen apertures in the cupshaped screen.

There are dough pieces, those for so-called cut rolls for example, which are not smooth on their upper surface but have a deep cut or several deep cuts. These dough pieces cannot be sucked up, that is to say cannot be transferred and distributed by means of an arrangement comprising a suction device. The invention also has as its object to provide an arrangement which does not comprise suction devices, i.e., to provide a holding device working on a new principle. Thus each holding device comprises a gripper arrangement having at least two claws arranged at a distance from one another and movable relatively to one another. The gripper arrangement works on the principle of the human hand and the claws constitute the fingers of the hand. It is surprising that in the present case a device working on the natural principle of taking hold of something is superior to a principle of taking hold which differs from the natural.

The claws ofa gripper arrangement preferably hold a dough piece not only by clamping pressure, but also by the fact that they reach under the dough piece at least to some extent. The movement and operation of the claws is simple. If each claw of a gripper arrangement is connected to one arm, the claw arm, of an angle lever rotatable about its bend, and the other arm of which, the operating arm, can be pivoted by a claw rod mounted so as to be displaceable in its longitudinal direction. By longitudinal displacement of the claw rod the free ends of the claws are pivoted.

The claws of a gripper arrangement can be brought into three positions which will be described separately. In one position, called the closing position, the free ends of the claws are brought very close to one another so that the claws can hold a dough piece. In the second position, called the picking up position, the claws all spread in the same direction and parallel with one another. A dough piece is adapted to be inserted between the claws ofa gripper arrangement in the picking up position. In the third position, called the spread position, the free ends of the claws are further from one another than in the picking up position.

The risk of a dough piece remaining stuck to the claws is fully avoided if the claws have a coating constituting their contact surface. Common operation of several gripper arrangements is brought about by providing a reciprocating claw-actuating plate acting on the claw rods of several gripper arrangements. This claw-actuating plate is preferably arranged on the side of the support plate remote from the gripper arrangements and parallel with the support plate, the latter being provided with slots for the passage of the claw rods and the size and direction of the slots corresponding substantially to the movements of the gripper arrangements parallel with the support plate. If the claws are urged into their closing position by a claw-closing spring and the gripper arrangements are moved into the working plate position by a return spring, it is preferable for the force of the return spring pulling the gripper arrangement into its working plate position to overcome the force of the claw-closing spring. This is because then the return spring can pull the gripper arrangement into its working plate position in spite of the claw-closing spring.

Various embodiments of the invention will be described in detail hereunder with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a working plate with dough pieces;

FIG. 2 shows a baking tray with dough pieces;

FIG. 3 shows a preferred embodiment of a device in side view with parts broken away;

FIG. 4 shows the preferred embodiment according to FIG. 3 with holding devices brought into a different position from F IG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows the preferred embodiment according to FIGS. 3 and 4 in front view;

FIG. 6 shows a gripper arrangement in baking position with claws in the closing position;

FIG. 7 shows the gripper arrangement according to FIG. 6 in baking position with claws in the spread position;

FIG. 8 shows another view of what is shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 shows a claw-actuating lever and claws in the picking up position;

FIG. 10 is a view along the line XX of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 shows the claw-actuating lever and the claws according to FIG. 9 in the closing position;

FIG. 12 shows the claw-actuating lever and the claws according to FIG. 9 in the spread position;

FIG. 13 shows the gripper arrangement according to FIG. 6 in the working plate position with claws in the picking up position;

FIG. 14 shows the gripper arrangement according to FIG. 6 in the working plate position with claws in the closing position;

FIG. 15 shows a gripper arrangement;

FIG. 16 is a section along the line XVI-XVI of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17 shows an arrangement of gripper devices on a support plate and the course of the slots for the claw rods located in the carrier plate, applicable to the preferred embodiment according to FIGS. 3 to 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION For dough pieces 46 which are to be spaced apart from a circular working formation on a working plate 45 into a rectangular baking formation in rows on a baking tray 62, there is provided in the preferred embodiment of the device a method of moving the holding devices wherein the holding devices do not obstruct one another. This manner of movement will be described for thirty dough pieces 46 with reference to FIGS. 1,2 and 17.

On the working plate 45 are thirty dough pieces represented by small circles in solid outline and arranged in an outer circle of 16 pieces a, a middle circle of 10 pieces b and an inner circle of four pieces 0. In order to arrange these 30 dough pieces rectangularly on the baking tray 62, first the pieces a of the outer circle are moved outwards far enough to define an outer rectangle of dough pieces a represented by small dotted circles. The outer rectangle needs six dough pieces at each longitudinal side including corners and three at each horizontal side, that is to say 18 dough pieces altogether. Because the outer circle only supplies l6 dough pieces a, two pieces b must be brought into the outer rectangle from the middle circle. As straight lines representing the path of the dough pieces or the devices holding them show in FIG. 17, the holding devices may obstruct one another if they are all moved simultaneously. Therefore, after the dough pieces a ofthe outer circle have been brought into the outer rectangle in a first step d1, two dough pieces b are brought from the middle circle into the outer rectangle in a second step (121. Then in a third step d22 the remaining pieces b of the middle circle are brought into a middle rectangle. In a fourth step d3 two dough pieces c of the inner circle are brought into the inner rectangle and the remaining two pieces of the inner circle are moved into alignment.

The preferred embodiment of the device has as holding devices gripper arrangements 44. Each gripper arrangement 44 has, as shown for example in FIGS. 15 and 16, four elongated, rectangular claws 47 curved in the manner of cylinder jacket sections, and each two of which are arranged facing one another and are movable relatively to one another. The two pairs of claws 47 are movable in directions perpendicular to one another. A greater or smaller number of claws may be advisable according to the type of dough or size of dough pieces. Each claw 47 forms one arm, the claw arm, of an angle lever, which is rotatably fixed at its bend 48 to one end of a bar 49. The other, actuating, arms 50 of the angle levers of a gripper arrangement 44, extending at right angles to the claw arms, point towards one another and are each articulated to one arm of a star-piece 51. The other ends of the four bars 49 of a gripper arrangement 44 are fixed to a common tubular member 52. A claw rod 53 attached to the star-piece 51 projects through the tubular member 52 and is displaceable in the latter in the direction of its longitudinal axis. A claw-closing spring 54 designed as a compression spring is placed over the claw rod 53 and bears at one end on the claw rod by way of an abutment ring 55 adjustable in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the claw rod and at the other end on the tubular member 52. The length of each claw rod 53 is exactly adjustable by means ofa setscre'w 56 shown in FIG. 14.

Essential to the gripper arrangement 44 in this embodiment is the feature that the claws 47 are urged into their closing position by the claw-closing spring 54. To this end, the clawclosing spring 54 urges the claw rod 53 in the direction of its longitudinal axis away from the claws 47, and at the same time pulls the star-piece 51 away from the claws, pivots the actuating arm towards the tubular member 52 and moves the free ends of the claws towards one another. If the claw rod 53 is pressed on to the claws 47, the claws are moved apart and the dough piece 46 can fall out. Should it stick to the claws 47, it is pushed off by the star-piece 51 of the claws. Sticking is also prevented by a coating 43 forming the contact surface of a claw 47, as shown for example in FIG. 3.

Each gripper arrangement 44 is, as shown for example in FIG. 14, fixed by way of its own guide means 57 to the underside of a horizontally arranged support plate 16. Each guide means 57 has a lower parallelogram cross-bar 58, which by means of a bore is pushed over the claw rod 53, the abutment ring 55 and the claw-closing spring 54 on to the tubular member 52. The gripper arrangement 44 is retained on the lower parallelogram cross-bar and hence on the guide, means 57 by means of a nut screwed above the bar on to the tubular member 52. For repair purposes the nut is loosened and the gripper arrangement 44 is withdrawn through the bore in the lower parallelogram cross-bar 58.

The design of the device is therefore such that each gripper arrangement 44 with a part carrying the claws 47 is pushed through a bore in a cross-bar in the guide means in an'axially rotatable manner. Each gripper arrangement 44 can thus also be rotated about the axisof its claw rod 53 and hence adjusted and set as desired. This is of advantage because the gripper arrangements 44 should be together so adjusted that only one claw 47 projects between each two adjacent dough pieces 46 on the working plate 45. That is to say the space between two adjacent dough pieces 46 is small. An advantageous arrangement of the dough pieces 46 and hence of the gripper arrangements 44 which naturally have the same arrangement as the dough pieces and the claws 47 is shown in FIG. 1. For the sake of simplicity, the remaining figures disregard this point.

A guide lever 2, consisting of two parts screwed into one another so as to be adjustable iri length, is articulated to each end of each lower parallelogram'cross-bar 58. The free ends of the two parallel guide levers 2 are articulated to an upper parallelogram cross-bar 59, which is screwed to the underside of the support plate I6. Each gripper arrangement 44 can together with its guide means 57 be removed from the support plate 16 and thus from the whole device, by unscrewing of its upper parallelogram cross-bar 59. A return spring 7, extending diagonally between the upper and lower parallelogram cross-bars and fixed to the guide levers 2, is designed as a tension spring and pulls the gripper arrangement 44 into the working plate position. The device is thus so designed that the movement of a holding device in one direction takes place at least partly against the force of a return spring and the movement in the opposite direction takes place correspondingly partly through the force of the return spring. The working plate position of the gripper arrangement 44 is set by a setscrew 60 for the working plate position, which is screwed through the upper parallelogram cross-bar 59, is adjustable and abuts against a stop for the working position fixed to a guide lever 2. The adjusting of the working position can thus advantageously be carried out from outside the whole device.

The device comprises a control means, by means of which the holding devices can be moved from the working position into the baking position and back into the working position. To this end, a control stop 4 carrying a ball-bearing stop roller 63 is in the preferred embodiment, as shown for example in FIG. 14, rigidly fixed to one of the two guide levers 2. The

control stop extends at right angles to the guide lever 2 and is located near the upper parallelogram cross-bar 59. It cooperates with a control rod 6 movable up and down in the direction of its longitudinal axis, which is associated with each gripper arrangement 44. The control stop 4 touches the control rod 6 during the movement of the holding device, so that the movement of the latter is always controlled. In order that the gripper arrangements 44 do not interfere with one another, when they are brought from the working position into the baking position, the beginning of the movement of the outer ones precedes that of the inner ones. As shown in FIG. 4, this is achieved by the fact that the distance between the end of the control rod 6 and the control stops 4 or stop rollers 63 varies when the gripper arrangements 44 are in their working position. The distance varies if the control rods 6 are of different lengths. Because the guide levers 2 of the outer gripper arrangements 44 are pivoted through a greater angle to the vertical than the guide levers of the inner gripper arrangements, the control stops 4 of the outer gripper arrangements are pivoted further towards their control rods 6 than those of the inner gripper arrangements.

As shown in FIG. 14, the control rods project in each case through an opening in the support plate 16 and are screwed to a control plate 26, which runs above and parallel with the support plate. If the control plate 26 and hence the control rod 6 is moved towards the claws 47, the control rod causes,

through the control stop 4, the guide lever 2 of the latter to pivot against the force of the return spring 7 and brings the gripper arrangement 44 into the baking position. During this operation, the direction in which the claw rod 53 extends does not alter. With increasing distance of a control rod 6 from the upper parallelogram cross-bar 59, the guide levers 2 are pivoted through a decreasing angle.

The guide levers of each gripper arrangement are, in the baking and in the working position, pivoted through the same angle to the vertical in opposite directions, In order that the claws of all the gripper arrangements are at the same height in the working position, the guide levers of the various gripper arrangements are ofdifferent lengths. If the return spring expediently extends diagonally, the gripper arrangements are also all at the same height in the baking position and the distribution and fixing of the upper parallelogram cross-bars to the support plate presents fewer difficulties.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, for example, the claw rods 53 project through the support plate 16 and the control plate 26 and are guided therein in slots 25, shown in FIG. 17 in .more detail, which correspond in size and direction to the movements of their gripper arrangements 44. They terminate both in the working and baking position, at the same height for all the gripper arrangements, at a greater or lesser distance from a claw-actuating plate 27, which runs above and parallel with the control plate 26.

For moving the holding devices and actuating the gripper arrangements a design is provided, in which a plate is movable by means of a toothed wheel engaging in a toothed rack, a lever being rigidly fixed to the wheel. In the preferred embodiment the horizontally arranged control plate 26 and the clawactuating plate 27 are guided so as to be able to move up and down on four vertical toothed racks 28, which are fixed in the four corners of the support plate 16 at right angles to the latter. Each two facing toothed racks 28 have their teeth towards the same side. One of four toothed wheels 29 rotatably attached to the claw actuating plate 27 and one of four toothed wheels 30 rotatably attached to the control plate 26 engage in each of the toothed racks 28. Two toothed wheels of each plate are connected to one another by an endless chain 31. When the toothed wheels 29, 30 roll on the toothed racks 28, the control plate 26 and the claw-actuating plate 27 move up and down. The sides of the toothed racks 28 remote from the teeth slide on the claw-actuating plate 27 and the control plate 26.

A control lever 32 is rigidly fixed to one of the toothed wheels 29 arranged on the control plate 26. A claw-actuating lever 33 is rigidly fixed to one of the toothed wheels 30 arranged on the claw-actuating plate 27. If the control lever 32 is swung downwards into a horizontal position, the control rods 6 move downwards and the gripper arrangements 44 pass into the baking position shown in FIG. 3. If it is swung upwards, they pass into the working position shown in FIG. 5. If the claw-actuating lever 33 is swung downwards into a horizontal position, the claw rods 53 are urged downwards, and the gripper arrangements 44 pass into their spread position shown in FIG. 3. If it is swung upwards, the claws 47 pass into the picking up position shown in FIG. or the closing position shown in FIG. 15. In the spread position the claw-actuating lever 33 rests on a cam 34 for the spread position. If it is swung upwards, it comes to bear on a cam 35 for the picking up position. At this time the claws 47 are in the picking up position shown in FIG. 5, in which they extend substantially perpendicularly to the working plate 45, are moved over the dough pieces 46 for the purpose of picking up, and extend parallel with one another. The claw-actuating lever 33 is adapted to pivot about a fulcrum 36 extending at right angles to the shaft of its toothed wheel 30 and by swinging about this fulcrum can be withdrawn from the influence of the cam 35 for the picking up position. If it is swung out about the shaft of the toothed wheel over the cam 35 for the picking up position, it comes to bear on a cam 37 for the closing position. The claws 47 are then in their closing position shown in FIG. 14.

In order that the control plate 26 or the claw-actuating plate 27 do not drop downwards under the force of gravity, each of them is provided with a compensating spring 38, the other end of which is connected to an associated endless chain 31. The force of a compensating spring 38 compensates, for example, the weight of the control plate 26, four toothed wheels 29, a chain 31, two chain wheels and the control lever 32.

The device is further so designed that a support for a working plate and a baking tray arranged below the holding devices and the holding devices are together displaceable relatively to one another in a horizontal direction. To this end the support plate 16 is, as shown in FIGS. 3. and 5, guided on opposite edges of pairs of rollers 39 on two beams 40 arranged horizontally at a distance from one another and is displaceable in a horizontal plane. The beams 40 are fixed on vertically arranged posts 24. In one position the support plate 16 together with the gripper arrangements 44, the guide means 57, the control means, etc. are located above the baking tray 62, and in the other above the working plate 45. The working plate 45 resting on a table 42 is movable up and down by means of a foot lever 4I. By the foot lever the working plate 45 is moved upwards and the dough pieces 46 are thus pushed between the claws 47 which are in the picking up position. Advantageously the gripper arrangement 44 is not moved for this.

There will now be described how dough pieces 46 are transferred and rearranged by the device from the working or molding position shown in FIG. 1 on the working plate 45 to the baking formation shown in FIG. 2 on the baking tray 62.

The working plate 45 is placed on the lowered table 42, as shown in FIG. 3. Then, as shown in FIGS. 4 or 5, the working plate 45 is brought under the support plate 16. Thereafter at the latest, the claw-actuating lever 33 is placed against the cam 35 for the picking up position, so that the claws are in their picking up position, shown in FIG. 4. Thereupon the control lever 32 is swung into its working plate position shown in FIG. 5, so that the gripper arrangements 44 are in their working plate position, shown in FIG. 4.

Then the working plate is raised by means of the foot lever 41, so that the dough pieces 46 are pushed between the claws 47 of the gripper arrangements 44, as shown in FIG. 4. The claw-actuating lever 33 is then swung into its closing position shown in FIG. 11, so that the claws 47 occupy their closing position shown in FIG. 11. The working plate 45 is then lowered and the gripper arrangements 44 hold the dough pieces 46.

The baking tray 62 is then brought under the support plate 16 as shown in FIG. 3. The control lever 32 is swung into its baking position shown in FIG. 3, so that the gripper arrangements 44 assume their baking position shown in FIG. 3. The claw-actuating lever 33 is then placed against the cam 34 for the spread position, and the claws 47 move into the spread position shown in FIG. 3. The dough pieces 46 drop on to the baking tray 62.

Iclaim:

1. Apparatus for picking up and depositing kneaded dough pieces, comprising a table, a support plate disposed higher than the table, said table and support plate being relatively vertically movable, a plurality of downwardly projecting holding means for dough pieces, said holding means being provided on the support plate, each holding means including at least two claws spaced diametrically opposite each other and being pivotable about a horizontal axis, control rods operably related to said at least two claws and being mounted for upward and downward movement for operating said claws to move apart when the rod is moved downward, each claw constituting one arm of a bell crank lever pivoted at its angle, at least two diametrically opposed arms attached to the control rod, means pivotally connecting the other arm of each bell crank lever to each of said diametrically opposed arms, a tubular member through which each rod extends located above said two diametrically opposed arms, link means pivotally connected to said tubular member and to said pivot point operably connected to each rod normally biasing the rod in an upward direction for operating said claws to move towards each other, each claw being of elongate and rectangular form and having an inwardly facing flat surface for engaging a dough piece, a guide means for fixing each holding means to the support plate, said guide means including a first crossbar having a vertical bore receiving said tubular member in an axial rotatable manner, a second crossbar detachably secured to the support plate, at least two lengthwise adjustable levers pivotally connected to each end of said first and second crossbars so that upon detachment of the second crossbar from the support plate, the holding means and its guide means can be removed from the support plate, and means detachably retaining the holding means on the first crossbar whereby each holding means can be rotated about the axis ofits rod for adjusting and setting purposes, as desired.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the inwardly facing flat surface of each claw is provided with a coating to prevent adherence of the dough piece to the claws.

3. The apparatus according to claim I, in which the claws of each holding means are biased towards a closed position by a claw closing spring, each of the holding means being pivotable on the support plate for movement about a horizontal axis and a return spring provided to pull the holding means into its working position, the force exerted by the return spring being such as to overcome that of the claw closing spring.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the holding means are movable substantially parallel to the support plate via slots in the support plate, the size and direction of said slots corresponding substantially to the movements of the holding means relative to the support plate. 

1. Apparatus for picking up and depositing kneaded dough pieces, comprising a table, a support plate disposed higher than the table, said table and support plate being relatively vertically movable, a plurality of downwardly projecting holding means for dough pieces, said holding means being provided on the support plate, each holding means including at least two claws spaced diametrically opposite each other and being pivotable about a horizontal axis, control rods operably related to said at least two claws and being mounted for upward and downward movement for operating said claws to move apart when the rod is moved downward, each claw constituting one arm of a bell crank lever pivoted at its angle, at least two diametrically opposed arms attached to the control rod, means pivotally connecting the other arm of each bell crank lever to each of said diametrically opposed arms, a tubular member through which each rod extends located above said two diametrically opposed arms, link means pivotally conNected to said tubular member and to said pivot point operably connected to each rod normally biasing the rod in an upward direction for operating said claws to move towards each other, each claw being of elongate and rectangular form and having an inwardly facing flat surface for engaging a dough piece, a guide means for fixing each holding means to the support plate, said guide means including a first cross-bar having a vertical bore receiving said tubular member in an axial rotatable manner, a second cross-bar detachably secured to the support plate, at least two lengthwise adjustable levers pivotally connected to each end of said first and second cross-bars so that upon detachment of the second cross-bar from the support plate, the holding means and its guide means can be removed from the support plate, and means detachably retaining the holding means on the first cross-bar whereby each holding means can be rotated about the axis of its rod for adjusting and setting purposes, as desired.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the inwardly facing flat surface of each claw is provided with a coating to prevent adherence of the dough piece to the claws.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the claws of each holding means are biased towards a closed position by a claw closing spring, each of the holding means being pivotable on the support plate for movement about a horizontal axis and a return spring provided to pull the holding means into its working position, the force exerted by the return spring being such as to overcome that of the claw closing spring.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, in which the holding means are movable substantially parallel to the support plate via slots in the support plate, the size and direction of said slots corresponding substantially to the movements of the holding means relative to the support plate. 